The 1st of July, Balearic Islands will represent the autonomous communities in Brussels in fisheries

The director general of Fisheries, Antoni M. Grau, has travelled to the Belgian capital to attend the preparatory meeting for the transfer of information.

As dictated by the agreements of the Conference on Affairs Related to the European Union (CARUE) of 9th of December 2004 and 2nd of July 2009, the Balearic Islands will represent the autonomous communities of Spain in Brussels on fisheries matters from 1st of July. 

The agreements of the Conference on Affairs Related to the European Union (CARUE) state that this direct autonomous community representation in the formations of the Council of the European Union is rotating. For this reason, in the last six months of the year, the Balearic Islands will exercise regional coordination in fisheries during the Hungarian presidency.

For this reason, the Director General of Fisheries, Antoni M. Grau, has travelled to the Belgian capital to attend a preparatory meeting and thus learn first-hand about the work done by the Canary Islands, which during this six-month period has monitored fisheries matters under the Belgian presidency. The Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), created in 1983, is a cornerstone of the European Union.

In this sense, Grau affirms that this representation ‘will be a unique opportunity for the Balearic Islands to present the reality of the Islands to the Commission’. The director general recalled that ‘the European common fisheries policy is based on sustainability, but it has three basic pillars: ecological, social and economic. It seems that we only think about the first pillar when drawing up management guidelines, and we forget about the latter. We have to seek a balance in order to guarantee the survival of the sector: fishermen have to survive and there has to be a product on the market so that the population can consume it.

It should be remembered that the Council of Ministers of the European Union has ten formations of ministerial rank, five of which totally affect the competences of the autonomous communities and are: employment, social policy, health and consumers; agriculture and fisheries; environment; education, youth, culture and sports, and competitiveness.